Holden will pay you $500 if you don’t like its cars

Holden is currently running a rather extraordinary promotion, offering to give $500 to anyone who test drives one of its cars and ends up buying from a competitor.

The Test Drive Challenge runs until August 31 and is available to private buyers only. It applies to the entire Holden range, with the exception of the outgoing VF Commodore, WN Caprice and HSV models.

The competitor’s car must be in the same vehicle segment as the Holden taken for a test drive, so you can’t cross shop a Ford Ranger with a Holden Spark, for example.

Essentially, this means you can cross-shop a purchase of any car with a Holden, with the exception of the medium passenger car segment where Holden is unrepresented (see our guide to Holden’s line-up below).

The offer is only available on new cars, excluding used and demonstrator vehicles and the money is given as a pre-paid Visa card; it can’t be used to knock the price of the car down or supplied as cash.

If you’re thinking there’s bound to be a heap of fine print on the deal... well, there’s not a whole lot, really.

The Holden test drive has to be done before you’ve bought a competitor’s vehicle, and you have to claim for the $500 within 30 days of test driving the Holden.

You also need proof of purchase of a competitor vehicle within those 30 days.

To make a claim, visit holden.com.au/testdriveclaim where you will also find the full terms and conditions.

Ford had a similar deal in 2014, though it offered only $200.

The move comes after Holden announced it was upping its warranty from three to five years, with unlimited kilometres.

“We know this is the best range of cars we’ve offered and in terms of safety, technology, customer service, value and that famous Holden driving spirit, we can’t be beaten.”

The brand is in the process of revamping its line-up post local manufacturing, having introduced the imported Commodore and Equinox medium SUV in recent times and the Acadia seven-seater due later in the year.

“Holden is evolving, no question,” Aquilina said.

“The new vehicle line-up is fantastic and we challenge new car buyers to experience how good they are and form their own opinion.

“We’re so confident in them, we’re willing to put $500 down if they go on to buy something else.”